Hametz is more than crumbs in the corners of our homes.
Hametz is something that our tradition teaches must be removed from our homes. It is the tiny particles of anything that is sourced from leaven/yeast that adds air for expansion and particular grains that when wet can sour, can expand, and metaphorically described as ‘growing on their own.’ Even traditionalists see it beyond cleaning and purifying our environments for the Passover holiday. It is a way to begin the first Seder cleansed, renewed, and ready to immerse oneself in the history of our people, in identifying with one of the most awesome moments of liberation.
But hametz is also something we gather in the corners of our being, the spiritual hametz that, like the physical particles we gather the night before Passover begins, can infect, whither, influence, and sabotage us as we engage with others, at work, in families, in friendships, and our own intra-psychic life. We search our minds, hearts, souls, for parts of our lives for the chametz that fills us with false pride, perceptions, prevents us from moving forward or fulfilling our dreams; can undermine our behavior and/or ability to feel pain, grief, or fear. We search for those unresolved issues or emotions that prevent us from being free/liberated; The psychospiritual particles that puff-up, inflate the false self – our egos, our stubbornness and/or arrogance or the inner Pharaoh we sometimes hold, totally unawares. What about the chametz of fear and insecurity? Regaining strength, courage, and purpose is important too in these moments, just like our ancestors in Egypt.
Not unlike the work we do during the coming seven weeks when we ‘Count the Omer,’ a deep dive into the Kabbalistic inner workings of our ‘middot,’ qualities of character and behavior, and the work we do before the High Holy Days, with ‘Heshbon haNefesh,’ accounting of our soul, this is another time in the Jewish calendar for focused and intentional searching and transformation.
This time we write down on a small piece of paper that which we want to discard, clear out, and then burn these little offerings along with the physical hametz the morning of the first Seder. It can be a welcome and renewing moment that prepares us for receiving and reigniting our traditions greatest gift, freedom, in a very wholistic and ‘holistic’ way. May this Passover support all forms of liberation, physical and emotional/spiritual to move forward with pride, resilience, and joy.
